Gospel Conversations Reimagined: Faithful Recontextualization Yields to the Full Weight of God's Authority, Part 1
In an earlier post I demonstrated that by the mid-twentieth century it was assumed that most people in America had a basic Christian understanding of God and viewed God as having moral and ethical authority. Presentations of the gospel usually were made passively without fear of rejection or reprisal and the quest for truth was often satisfied by presenting convincing proofs and evidences. That time is largely past. For example, recently I had a conversation with a young Austrian woman who serves with Agape Europe (Cru’s Ministry in Europe) and shares the gospel with college students. She noted, “Christians are no longer ready to answer the questions secular students are asking today.” The same holds true in the US—on university campuses, in suburban neighborhoods, and at the urban core.
As I have mentioned before, relativism trumps reason today and makes the call to recontextualize our approach to meaningful gospel conversations all the more urgent. In a previous post I proposed an approach to recontextualization that is framed by Four Prominent Features—the second feature, the topic of this post, speaks to the necessity of acknowledging God’s authority particularly in a society where belief in God is implausible, even unimaginable.
Feature Two contends that engaging in meaningful gospel conversations in a twenty-first-century secularized context requires that we, God’s church, yield to the full weight of God’s authority in mission. This is demonstrated, declared, and revealed in six ways: (1) in Scripture; (2) through creation; (3) in the mission of redemption set into motion first by the fall, and then through the nation of Israel; (4) by the Spirit-empowered incarnation, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus; (5) through Jesus’s ascension and sending of the Spirit in the book of Acts and the Epistles; and finally (6) in the Revelation—the re-creation of all things.
Here is a quick overview of the first three ways God’s authority is demonstrated:
1. The full weight of God’s authority is declared and demonstrated in Scripture
Scripture mediates God’s authority. Christopher Wright asserts,
The authority of the Bible is that it brings us into contact with reality—primarily the reality of God himself whose authority stands behind that of creation. In fact, the Bible renders to us several connected realities, each of which has its own intrinsic, predicated authority.[1]
When we read, know and interact with the Scripture we are challenged to engage with reality. Our engagement with the Bible functions to authorize and set our boundaries and gives us freedom to participate in the world around us and courageously engage in meaningful gospel conversations.
If the Bible is not the authoritative word of God, then what hope is there? If the God in whom we have put our trust is only a figment of our collective imagination, then we are to be most pitied.
Over the course of my studies as I read my Bible, God’s Spirit has energized me with a fresh realization of God’s authority—God is the Creator, Sustainer and Redeemer of all things.
2. The full weight of God’s authority in mission is demonstrated through creation.
By the command of the Triune God the universe and the cosmos were created ex nihilo (Gen 1:1–3). Furthermore, God the Creator and King rules and reigns over all things. God is the source and goal of the cosmos as recorded in Scripture, and he will make his name known (Genesis 1–3; Num 14:21; Deut 4:36–39; Psalm 90; 103:19; 45:5–7; Jer 31:35–37; Hab 2:14; 2 Cor 4:6).
Bruce Ashford and Heath Thomas affirm,
“In the beginning God” … forces us to recognize that the God of creation is neither one whom we make for ourselves nor one who fits into our world. Rather, the God on display in Genesis is the uncreated Creator of the universe into whose world we fit. He is the king of it.[2]
3. The full weight of God’s authority is evident in the mission of redemption that was set into motion first by the fall, and then through the nation of Israel
The Triune God’s authority is displayed in the promise of redemption in the OT through the nation of Israel and is evidenced by God’s blessing of Abraham, Israel’s eventual deliverance from bondage in Egypt through the Spirit-empowered leadership of Moses, God’s assurance of a king through the line of David. God exercised divine authority when he set into motion Israel’s exile—the consequences of sin (2 Samuel 7; 1 Chr 17:1–27).
God’s authority is also demonstrated by the power of the Spirit that is bestowed on judges and prophets (Judges 3; 4; 13–16), prophetesses (Exod 15:20; Judges 4; 2 Kgs 22:14; Neh 6:14; Luke 2:36), and pagan kings (2 Chr 36:22–23; Jer 27:6; 43:10; Isa 44:28; 45:1). God remains faithful to the promise of redemption evidenced by God’s steadfast love, mercy, and grace.
Reflection
So, Yielding to the Full Weight of God’s Authority is a prominent feature of recontextualization in today’s secularized context. Scripture, creation, and the mission of redemption set in motion by the fall and then through the nation of Israel are three of the six ways God’s authority in mission is demonstrated, declared and revealed to us. It is important for us to understand God’s authority especially as we participate with the Spirit in mission. In a future post, I will suggest three more ways God’s authority in mission is present.
Exercising the freedom and the privilege to engage with secular people about God requires a bold and yet humble posture. Bold in the sense that we are confident, “There is a God in heaven” (Daniel 2:28) and humble—remembering that the gospel is good news for all people. The ripple effect of a vacuous sacred center is everywhere present, but the God to whom we yield is greater still. Theologian Abraham Kuyper famously stated,
Oh, no single piece of our mental world is to be hermetically sealed off from the rest, and there is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence of which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry: ‘Mine!’[3]
May we be men and women who are gladly, confidently and boldly yielded to full weight of God’s authority.
